This final piece in my series on green-reading books is nothing short of headache-inducing, beginning with this direct quote from the executive director of the R&A:
To all who insist that Tiger Woods, age 42, is “washed up,” you are now, as Dusty Springfield sang in 1964: “Wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin.’” Period. The man can still compete at the highest level of the game. Period.
“Chances are, your chances are, awfully good,” sang Johnny Mathis back in 1960. Mathis was a champion high jumper back in the day and, according to more than one source, also an outstanding ping pong player. Years later, he took up golf.
No sooner than training camps open from coast to coast and border to border — and nowhere more dramatically than in the great state of Texas — do large photos and stories on sports pages and major magazines begin to feature quarterbacks, with their big smiles and their bigger contracts.
At one Las Vegas sports betting establishment, a $350 wager would win $100 if you felt Tiger Woods would make the cut at the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie last week. Those who bet the farm now own about a farm and a third.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the 147th Open Championship will be played later this week in Angus, Scotland at Carnoustie Golf Club — just as my bride and I have concluded viewing the Netflix Original Series “Stranger Things.”
A few years ago, I stood at a bar next to Hall of Fame golfer Nick Price, both of us ordering a scotch and water. The occasion was a pre-tournament dinner for the Insperity — a Champions Tour event held annually at the TPC course at The Woodlands, where golf is still played around corners an…
Bella andaro, Francesco! Complimenti! Bellissimo golf! In case you were out somewhere in the 100-plus heat index Sunday, fighting through the Saharan Dust, you missed a couple of important golf happenings.
I found it a useful coincidence that on the same day Daily News publisher Leonard Woolsey wrote about recognizing (sort of) one’s physical limitations due to, well, aging and the need to perhaps try to make lifestyle adjustments, Gerry Watson won his 12th PGA Tour event.
Within two minutes of each other, Matt Fleming and Jared Robinson submitted correct responses to last week’s 10-question quiz on the U.S. Open.
It is not likely that any professional golfer will ever even come close to having a season like that of Byron Nelson back in 1945, when he won 11 consecutive tournaments. Tiger Woods won seven consecutive starts in 2006-2007; Woods and Ben Hogan each had years when they won six consecutive events.
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“June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” is a line from a song by the same name in the 1945 musical “Carousel.” At Shinnecock Hills Golf Club — about 90 miles east of New York City, where today the forecast high temperature is a ridiculous 70-something degrees — June is bustin’ out with the 118th U.S.…
Perhaps you are still in shock over the total dominance by Dustin Johnson in winning the St. Jude Classic. Like Justify at the Belmont Stakes, Johnson took the lead and never faltered, putting an exclamation point on his win (and return to No. 1 in the World Ranking) with an eagle at the par…
Last week I bragged about having been hugged by late Hall of Fame golfer Carol Mann; I also mentioned having met other Hall of Fame players. One of those is Hale Irwin, this year’s honoree at Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament.
I have had the good fortune to meet more than a half-dozen Hall of Fame golfers, but I have been hugged by only one: Carol Mann. Semi-legendary sports writer Melanie Hauser, whom I also have had the privilege of spending a brief amount of time with, knew Mann well and described her in part: …
Even a non-golfer can discern the differences in the golf swings of players they see on television, even if they only see them in the local sportscast.
While you are enjoying your morning, including reading the paper, I am on my way to the UIL Class 6A State Golf Championship at Legacy Hills Golf Club in Georgetown to cheer on a group of some of the most talented golfers in Texas, and, as a group, arguably the best in the history of Galvest…
Officially, it is labeled “The 9th Annual Michael D. Riley Memorial Golf Tournament.” The tournament will be played May 18 at Moody Gardens Golf Course.
According to a statement issued Thursday by the Houston Golf Association (HGA), the Houston Open, which has been fixture on the PGA Tour since 1946, may no longer exist.
A visit to The Grand 1894 Opera House, much like a visit to a golf course, is an opportunity to say hello to “old” acquaintances or perhaps make new ones. Other than that, the two activities have little else in common, except to gain an appreciation for talent — stage left, right and center …
Hope you have already done your taxes; also, that you can go on an Alaskan cruise with the refund!
When proud grandpa Dennis Link emailed me a photo of his grandsons, the squeaky wheels in my brain ticked up a notch.
According to long time Houston area sports journalist Dale Robertson, this year’s Houston Open will be the first since 1991 that did not have Shell as its title sponsor.
Months ago, I declared that I would not write about Tiger Woods until he did something worth writing about. No, this is not, as Yogi Berra was purported to have said, “déjà vu all over again” (in case you missed last week’s column, it had the very same opening sentence).
Months ago, I declared that I would not write about Tiger Woods until he did something worth writing about. Well, he did so last weekend at the Valspar PGA tournament in Florida.
Someone observed that the only thing that remains constant is change. Bob Dylan declared: “The times, they are a-changin’.” So, gather ‘round people, wherever you roam, because change is upon the golf scene in both the near term, far down the road, and at many intersections in between.
First, a few words about the Winter Olympics, and in particular events such as bobsled, luge and skeleton.
Note to self: Never, ever buy for your bride, wearing apparel or accessories that are orange in color — not golf balls nor gloves; shoes, visors nor sweaters. This is an early lesson learned while viewing the Olympic Games last Sunday afternoon.
About a half-dozen golf writers recently got together to talk about physical fitness. The meeting place was VillaSport Athletic Club and Spa just off Highway 290 in the Barker-Cypress area, where once cattle grazed but now more than 116,000 kids attend public schools and master-planned resid…
With his inimitable nasality, Willie Nelson sang to us: “Time, time rolls on like a river, and you know there’s just so much to do.” If he was waiting for television coverage of the PGA from Torrey Pines last Saturday, Willie was among those of us who witnessed time trickle like a slowly dyi…
This column is dedicated to all recreational golfers whose downswings do not start correctly; those whose arms and shoulders get separated; and of course, the millions who have a flat shoulder plane rather than a more upright shoulder plane.
In the latter part of the last century, there was a popular television program called “Welcome Back, Kotter,” which starred Gabe Kaplan and John Travolta. Their characters, Mr. Kotter and Vinny Barbarino, to my knowledge and memory never mentioned golf.
Early each year, the NFL throws a party; it lasts about a week and features a football game — the Super Bowl — which ends with the crowning of the NFL Champions.
The year was 1964. My final high school football game was, ingloriously, “in the books” as they say, whoever “they” are. It was clear and very cold, but the sun was shining and soon enough I would be at GALCO Country Club for the first round of golf since football season began the previous August.
It’s the day after Christmas, and all through the house, it’s time to take out the Christmas trash and begin planning for your best ever year in golf, 2018.
This being my last pre-Christmas column, it seemed only logical to offer up a new — if not improved — rendering of the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas,” the tune of which will now be in your head for the rest of the day. The first line came quickly: “On the first day of Christmas, my true …
We are now deep into the season of giving, only a few blinks and a “ho, ho, ho!” away from Christmas morning, when all over the country, parents look at each other in wonder as their children play with the cardboard boxes in which their gifts were secreted under the tree.
Ten days ago, I was strolling the rolling terrain of the Goat Hill Ranch golf course in Oceanside, Calif., at times alongside PGA player Charley Hoffman.
Ronnie Oliver, Randy Woods, Homer Whittington, Roger Herndon and Tony Aguilar (61), gave no thought to either the Goat Hill Ranch golf course nor the Belly-Up Bar while winning last week’s senior scramble at Bayou Golf Club. More than likely, neither did Badge Buddy Randy Burrows, Mikey Lane…
The Galveston Ball Boys and Girls Beginner Fall Classic featured 35 girls and 43 boys who are just embarking on the adventures of competitive golf. The one-day event a couple of weeks ago suggests that golf programs in the county and in the region are continuing to gain popularity at the hig…
It’s a sweet, sweet sound when Carole King sings “It’s too late, baby.” For those who remain Houston Texans fans (count me among the faithful), those lyrics describe the 2017 season; and, if you are a Tom Turkey, well then the words are just plumb tragic.
There was a change in the countenance of Astros second baseman Jose Altuve even as the ground ball was yet to have reached his glove. It was over, done and forevermore a memory to be replayed at moments of his choosing. As his throw to first for the final out and the first of World Series Ch…
Game No. 7 proved to be both exciting and disappointing for the Houston Texans, as their season record dropped to 3-4; Houston sports fanatics can only hope that a World Series Game 7 — should it be necessary — serves up a more positive result for the Astros.
In his book “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry,” Neil deGrasse Tyson asserts: “The clash between gravity and quantum mechanics poses no practical problem for the contemporary universe.”
Ball High golfers had a few tricks in their golf bags as they treated themselves recently to a bewitching victory over the Stingaree golfers from Texas City to prevail in the annual Causeway Cup matches.
It might be too early for sightings of ghosts and goblins, but Monday, Oct. 16 is sure to feature its share of bogeymen when Moody Gardens Golf Course hosts the 28th annual Galveston Regional Chamber of Commerce golf tournament.
Last Sunday the Houston Texans set a franchise record for points scored in a single game, led by a few veteran players and some talented youngsters. In golf, the United States team won the Presidents Cup with some talented youngsters and a veteran they dubbed “Grandpa” — one Phil Mickelson, …
We marvel at the athletic abilities of today’s youth and rightfully so. How can one not be impressed with the overall performance of Texans QB Deshaun Watson on Sunday — or for that matter of the overall work product of a team that was a “bigly” underdog. OK, so they lost.
Your Houston Astros are division champs and your Houston Texans are 1-1, which is not bad, all things considered. Most importantly, your Houston Rockets are now owned by your hometown guy Tilman Fertitta, who will settle for nothing less than offering the best product on the NBA market. But …
The Clash of the Causeway has been waged, and firefighters and law enforcement types have duked it out in the ring for charity. The Aggies have won one barely and lost one squarely, while the Longhorns lost one that resembled a track meet and won one that was more like a track meet with only…
The water has, in most areas of the county, receded; the sun has been shining, traffic is flowing — at times and in certain areas sluggishly. The mosquitoes are making a nuisance of themselves. Many area high school golfers are taking advantage of the delayed return to the classroom by worki…
Epic is a wonderfully descriptive word if being used in reference to a new Callaway driver. Epic is nothing less than ominous, however, when used to describe the deluge and flooding recently descended upon our area.
The long, hot summer continues to burn. If you and your group feel like a change of scenery for no other reason than to temporarily convince yourself that this is not the hottest summer ever, load up the clubs and head to The Wilderness.
Faster than both a speeding bullet and former “fastest man on earth” Usain Bolt, the results of the PGA Championship popped into my gmail box. By now, almost everything that can be said of what late last Sunday became a very interesting final major of 2017 has been said. But not quite; so read on.
It has not yet happened, but most assuredly will — and soon. Just like the next episode of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, I never know when “it” is coming; I just know that “it” will.
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